I forgot, Honest!

It took surprisingly little effort on Zander's part to convince Clank to not tell Ratchet about his recent revelation. Clank appeared to think that Ratchet would not take it as well as he had. He didn't even seem to think that it was at all necessary for Ratchet to know.

"If Ratchet is told the truth, it will only cause him stress without any tangible benefit" Clank had told Zander, who was only too happy not to have to go through the nerve-racking process of sharing that part of his history again.

When the two re-entered the dining room, they found Ratchet and Leliana still sharing their respective life stories, oblivious to all other activity around them. Zander wondered what he would tell his mother if he saw her again. He wondered what she would tell him. Probably that he should get a haircut, and not just from his head either. He smiled at the amusing thought.

Ratchet found the conversation with his mother… interesting, to say the least. The whole discussion seemed to revolve around prying every detail of each other's lives out of each other as possible. Because of their curiosity, neither could be convinced to only talk about themselves, and so there ended up being a sort of unspoken turn structure to their talk. One would share a minor anecdote, then insist that the other share one also and so on. The result was, for Ratchet, a very confusing overview of his mother's life, made up a collection of random chronological points.

Ratchet's mother just finished telling him how she fell for his father when he joined the Fastoon hoverball team, when Ratchet thought of a question that he did not believe had not occurred to him hours before.

"Mum, what's my real name?" His mother simply gave him a confused look. Then she appeared to realise what he meant and gave him a sympathetic look.

"You mean the name your father and I gave you?" Ratchet sensed that a response he would not be expecting would come.

"Uh… yeah. It's just right before I defeated Tachyon, he kind of… taunted me about how he knew my name, but I didn't. It's bugged me ever since". A pause followed, then his mother said apologetically;

"Well, we never really gave you a name". Ratchet's only response was;

"Huh?"

"When you were born, your father and I each had our own ideas of what to call you. Differing ideas. We were a perfect match, you know. We were both as stubborn as each other. Three days later we were still each calling you something different and, well… I'm sure you can imagine what happened next". Ratchet experience a strange mix of understanding, confusion and anger all at the same time.

"So Tachyon was lying to me?"

"Your father probably convinced that monster to side with him on the name debate as well, before he died". After a pause, she added; "Do you want me to tell you what we each wanted your name to be?" Ratchet thought hard for a while. For years, he had wanted this moment to happen, but now he knew the situation, it didn't really seem important anymore.

"Nah" he eventually said dismissively. "I've met one too many people that clung to the past". His mother smiled at him.

"'Ratchet and Clank' sounds better for some reason, anyway. More catchy". She then leaned forward to give Ratchet another hug. As she did so, however, Ratchet let out a shout and said;

"Hey! Careful with the arm!" His mother drew back quickly, a concerned look on her face. She looked down at how Ratchet was cradling his right arm, then demanded in a very motherly tone;

"Ratchet! Why didn't you tell me about that before?"

"Kinda forgot about it, I guess" he replied sheepishly.

"You forgot about it? About a broken arm? I don't know, you boys. You get carried away with your own adventures". She stood agitatedly and began to walk off. "Wait here, I think I've got a sling somewhere".

"Can't I just get a crate of nanotech or something?" Ratchet yelled after her.

"Nanotech? Now why would we have something like that out here? Honestly!" she shouted back.

Zander watched the 'debate' between Ratchet and Leliana with some amusement. Ratchet had previously been so sure of himself, always taking the initiative. But now, with a mother in the equation, he was entirely helpless.

As Leliana fastened an old sling around Ratchet's arm and shoulder, Zander thought about how easily he could arrive in that position. If Ratchet, who has saved three galaxies and defeated countless villains, could get a broken arm, what were Zander's chances if he were ever faced with danger again? What if Clank hadn't been there when he was about to be executed by the cragmites? What if the lombaxes hadn't arrived when he was being mauled by a shaglizard? What if he hadn't been sucked into the portal when he was surrounded by Kerchu? Zander realised he needed to learn how to take care of himself or he would be a goner sooner or later.

I need to learn how to fight, Zander decided.

Leliana: "Honestly, how could you just 'forget' about a broken arm! The arm of the series' main protagonist, for crying out loud!"

MrBlack: *waves keyboard* "I can kill you any time I want, so forget this ever happened please!"

Leliana: "What were we talking about again?"

MrBlack: "That's better".

Seriously, guys. Sorry about just completely forgetting that 'minor' detail. On the bright side, it gave me a great opportunity to get Leliana acting as all mothers should (or do? Which is it?) Anyway, another bit of an uneventful chapter, but I hope it has set up the next major part of the story pretty well. So, just to remind myself (and anyone who's interested), the current agenda is:

-Give Zander 1337 skillz (within reason. No godmode)

-Send lombaxes home (I might just have a well-thought-out plan for that. We'll see)

-Get Zander back home in 'hairless mode'

Further than that, and I would be spoiling things (or giving massive hints)! Also, if I finish this and find myself wanting to write more, sequels will be crossovers. Crossover-haters, you can still enjoy this though!